Healthcare Rights of Conscience

A pro-life nurse at a large public hospital in Texas was told by her supervisor to assist in a second-trimester abortion. The nurse fearfully and discreetly expressed her concerns to the hospital chaplain. The nurse feared for her job if she objected, and so had come to ask Sister Emma, "Will God forgive me?"

What would you do if forced to choose between your job and your conscience? No one should be placed in a situation similar to the one faced by the Texas nurse. Those of us who share a commitment to the sanctity of life must work to create a meaningful right of conscience, making it both illegal and socially unacceptable for anyone to face coercion to participate in a medical act that violates his or her conscience. Thankfully, this particular true story has a happy ending. The chaplain contacted AUL and was advised that Texas law protected the nurse if she objected. She could not legally be forced to participate in the abortion and could not be discriminated against by her employer for refusing to participate.

A civil right of conscience must be recognized for all individual and institutional healthcare providers. Individuals do not lose their right to exercise their religion and conscience once they enter a health profession. Today, many healthcare providers, especially pharmacists and medical students, are at risk of having their right of conscience violated. Of particular note is the increasing number of pharmacists that have been fired, harassed, or demoted for refusing to dispense emergency contraception (also known as Plan B).

Many states have adopted conscience clauses that give private hospitals, nurses, and physicians the right to conscientiously object only to participating in abortion. However, what is urgently needed are laws that recognize an affirmative civil right for all healthcare providers, including individuals (who may work for a private or public healthcare facility) and institutions (whether those institutions are public or private) to refuse to participate in any healthcare service to which they conscientiously object.

Our resources provide information on the increasing threat to healthcare rights of conscience by groups and individuals who believe that healthcare providers who oppose abortion, contraception, and immoral uses of biotechnology should get out of the profession. A key component of this coercive agenda is legislation compelling individual pharmacists and pharmacies to stock and dispense emergency contraception regardless of conscience or other objections. This section seeks to provide the necessary resources to enact urgently needed and comprehensive protection for all healthcare workers.